


Carnival

by DragonsPhoenix



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Jossverse
Genre: Gen, Sisters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-12
Updated: 2013-04-12
Packaged: 2017-12-08 06:43:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/758285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonsPhoenix/pseuds/DragonsPhoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for a prompt at Open on Sunday: egg</p><p>Yeah, and I'm also making a reference to Green Egg magazine, just 'cause I'm geeky that way!</p>
    </blockquote>





	Carnival

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt at Open on Sunday: egg
> 
> Yeah, and I'm also making a reference to Green Egg magazine, just 'cause I'm geeky that way!

The clown on stilts should have fallen. Buffy, barely fighting her way through the crowd, couldn't imagine how the clown hadn't yet tumbled to the ground to be trampled by the mass of people pushing and running and shoving every which way. “Six throws, only one ticket for six throws” vied with “Step right this way” and the sounded of a baby shrieking. A couple of boys rocketed past, the second bouncing off Buffy before vanishing into the crowd. An enormously fat woman slid into the spot before Buffy could follow. When the woman stopped and dug through her monster of a purse, people flowed around her like water, blocking Buffy in behind. The woman started moving again, and Buffy took the opportunity to inch past her only to have her foot blocked by a stilt. A half-dozen side-steps, bouncing off of a couple of people in the crowd, dumped Buffy into an alley between two of the booths. The noise dropped away. When Buffy stared back at the carnival, it looked distorted, as if she were viewing it through thick glass.

A noise behind her had Buffy turning. About half-way down the alley she saw a juggler. His clothes, a dull black color, were a few shades darker than the shadows. His face, an almost featureless mask, shone pale in the darkness, all but his lips which were painted bright red. Beside him, above him, before him, a pair of white gloves moved incessantly, continuously tossing and catching a set of eggs. The first two, ordinary buy 'em in the grocery store eggs, were offset by the third, which glowed greenly, trailed by a comet's tail.

The two white eggs, tossed high into the air, were followed by the green, which rose even higher. Buffy gasped. She didn't know why but was sure terrible things would happen if the green egg hit the ground. The juggler's pale face darkened as if he'd stepped into shadows, but it was all shadows. His lips stretched into a grin as thin as the edge of a razor. The two white eggs started to fall. “Round and round and round she goes, when she drops everyone goes..” Buffy thought she heard a muted call of “to hell” when the juggler caught the two white eggs. He didn't toss them back up again but instead clenched his hands shut. Buffy heard the two eggs crack and saw blood flow from the clenched fists.

The green egg, from its zenith, started to fall. The juggler stepped backward, vanishing into the shadows. The egg, the glowing green, fell with no one to catch it. That egg's blood would destroy the world. Buffy threw herself to the ground, stretching her arms out to catch the third egg. Her fingers brushed the edge of its fiery tail before it fell past her and continued down below her, into a void that swirled with pulsating light, the greens and muddy yellows and purples of old bruises. As Buffy tried to reach down into the void, her hand slammed into dirt. The egg continued to fall, becoming smaller and smaller until it vanished in a flash of green light.

“No.” Buffy bolted upright in her bed, memories of a green light fading from her thoughts. Not knowing what drove her, she padded into the hallway, opening the door quietly. She didn't want to wake her sister, afraid that would make it – make something – real. “I won't let anything hurt you.” The words, as they passed her lips, felt like a benediction. She didn't know why she'd said them but imagined the words drifting across the room and settling over the sleeping Dawn like a kiss.


End file.
